They will turn plastic waste into business opportunities

The French-flagged Plastic Odyssey Ship Recycling Academy will provide entrepreneurs with the opportunity to turn plastic waste into a profitable business opportunity.

Plastic Odyssey, which drives the strategy “Cleaning the past to build the future”, He arrived in Panama on October 30 from Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), as part of stop number 14 on a tour that includes 30 stops in countries on three continents.

In case of Panama, the Plastic Odyssey ship He will stay in the country until November 9.

During their stay on Panamanian soil, the Recycling Academy program will help train local entrepreneurs on the basics of recycling plastic waste through face-to-face conversations.

According to Morgana Kerdoncuff, manager of Plastic Odyssey Ship, as part of the training for entrepreneurs in Panama, technical training guides, presentations, videos and a library of practical content will be offered to help them learn more about recycling or managing a company that contributes to environmental sustainability.

“With the Recycling Academy, we offer an online training program that will allow you to familiarize yourself with the challenges of plastic recycling and learn the basics of developing your own plastic waste treatment facility with semi-industrial production capacity,” Kerdoncuff pointed out.

Every minute, 19 tons of plastic waste are thrown into the ocean, which has become one of the worst pollutants in the oceans, according to estimates by researchers from the Plastic Odyseey initiative.

“90% of ocean plastic pollution comes from 20 to 30 countries in Asia, Africa and South America, where there are no industrial waste management systems in place,” Kerdoncuff said.

He added: “In these countries, many entrepreneurs are developing or want to develop recycling initiatives to turn plastic waste into a lever for economic development and the fight against pollution.”

“These initiatives are run by self-taught, isolated entrepreneurs with limited resources in the informal economy,” he noted.

In Panama, Law 187 promotes the progressive reduction and replacement of single-use plastics. The provision enters into force on July 1, 2021.